1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stand-up type personal watercraft (PWC). More particularly, the present invention relates to a personal watercraft steered by a rider who operates a steering handle standing on a floor at a rear portion of a deck.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, so-called stand-up type personal watercraft have been used in leisure, sport activities, and the like. The stand-up type personal watercraft is provided with a flat floor called a standing deck at a rear portion of a deck of the watercraft. The rider stands on the floor and operates a steering handle located in front of the floor. In general, one rider rides on the stand-up type personal watercraft.
As a propulsion mechanism, a water-jet propulsion device is used. Specifically, the personal watercraft is configured to have a water jet pump that pressurizes and accelerates water sucked from a water intake generally provided on a hull bottom surface and ejects it rearward from an outlet port. Thereby, the watercraft is propelled. In this personal watercraft, an engine is contained in a body constituted by a deck and a hull. An engine room which contains the engine is formed in a front space separated by a bulkhead in the longitudinal direction of the body.
The rider enjoys active steering while the personal watercraft is planing on a water surface. Sometimes, during cruising, water ingress into the engine room occurs. For the purpose of discharging the water in the engine room, the conventional stand-up type personal watercraft is provided with a bilge discharge mechanism obtained by connecting the engine room to the water jet pump by means of a pipe member. The bilge discharge mechanism serves to discharge the water in the engine room to outside the watercraft by a function of the water jet pump.
However, the bilge discharge mechanism functions only while the watercraft is cruising, i.e., the water jet pump is operating, and does not function when the watercraft is beached. With this bilge discharge mechanism, it is therefore difficult to discharge the water remaining in the engine room when the watercraft stops cruising and is beached. When the watercraft is beached, the water remaining in the space-limited engine room is commonly discharged through an operator""s manual effort using a sponge, a hand-operated pump, or the like. This work is troublesome.
The present invention addresses the above-described conditions and an object of the present invention is to provide a stand-up type personal watercraft comprising a discharge mechanism capable of easily discharging water from an engine room of a body of the watercraft even when the watercraft is beached.
According to the present invention, there is provided a stand-up type personal watercraft comprising: an engine; a body constituted by a deck and a hull; an engine room for containing the engine; a bulkhead that defines a front portion of the body as the engine room for containing the engine; and a drain passage formed in a lower portion of the engine room so as to communicate with an outside of the watercraft, wherein the drain passage is adapted to be opened/closed.
With such a configuration, when the watercraft is not cruising, for example, when the watercraft is beached, the water can be easily discharged. As defined herein, the lower portion of the engine room includes a bottom portion of the engine room.
Preferably, the stand-up type personal watercraft may further comprise: a water jet pump driven by the engine; and a water intake formed in the hull, from which water is sucked by the water jet pump, and one end of the drain passage is opened in the vicinity of the water intake.
Preferably, the stand-up type personal watercraft may further comprises a grate plate, wherein a concave portion for mounting the grate plate may be formed in a portion of the hull at a periphery of the water intake, a first penetrating hole is formed in the concave portion and a second penetrating hole is formed in a lower portion of the bulkhead, and the drain passage may be formed such that the first penetrating hole and the second penetrating hole are connected to each other by a first pipe member.
With such a configuration, the drain mechanism is provided by using the existing structure, i.e., the concave portion for mounting the grate plate, without substantially changing the shape of the planing surface of the hull, which is an important factor in cruising. Advantageously, the drain mechanism is attained by simply connecting the penetrating holes to each other by means of the first pipe member.
Preferably, the drain passage may have an openable closing member in at least one of an end portion thereof on the concave portion side and an end portion thereof on the bulk head side.
The end portion on the concave portion side or the end portion on the bulkhead side, where the operator can easily open/close the closing member, can be selected.
Preferably, the end portion of the drain passage on the concave portion side may be opened, the drain passage may have the closing member in the end portion thereof on the bulkhead side, and the watercraft may comprise: a transmission member connected to the closing member and extending to the deck, for opening/closing the closing member; and an operation member mounted to the deck, for operating the transmission member.
In this structure, remote operation that makes it easy to open/close the drain mechanism becomes possible by providing the operation member in an operation panel or the like in front of the rider.
Preferably, the stand-up type personal watercraft may further comprise a fastening member provided for mounting the grate plate to a portion of the hull at a periphery of the water intake, the fastening member may be comprised of a second pipe member having a penetrating hole inside thereof and mounted to the concave portion and a drain plug removably attached in the penetrating hole of the second pipe member with the grate plate retained between the end portion of the second pipe member and the drain plug, and one end portion of the first pipe member may be connected to the second pipe member.
In this structure, the drain mechanism is provided by using the fastening member of the grate member without substantially changing the existing external appearance of the watercraft.
Preferably, the drain passage may have an openable closing member in an end portion thereof on the bulkhead side, and the plug may have a hollow portion through which an inside of the second pipe member communicates with an outside of the watercraft.
With such a configuration, since the end portion of the drain passage located in the vicinity of the periphery of the water intake is opened and the end portion of the drain passage on the bulk head side is openable/closable, the operator need not get under the hull and open/close the drain passage when discharging the water.
The above and further objects and features of the invention will be more fully be apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings.